Medical Supplies for Healthcare Workers in Nepal

Global Links appreciates your support of our project “Medical Supplies for Healthcare Workers in Nepal.”  Without your help, we would not have been able provide medical teams from across the US with critically needed medical supplies. With your help we were able to provide over $165,000 of specialized medical and surgical supplies to support these responder teams.

We supported Dr. Emily, a doctor that volunteered with CardioStart, who spent her time in Nepal assisting the doctors and nurses of Kathmandu University Hospital in Dhulikhel as they completed over 1,300 surgical procedures and treated over 2,000 patients for other injuries.

In her own words:  “We were there during the second 7.3 earthquake on 5/12 which was much closer to us and collapsed many structures weakened by the first… We moved the entire hospital, except ventilated patients and the O.R., outdoors again under makeshift tents and tarpaulins…  It was best described as a war zone without enemies.”

Dr. Emily and CardioStart were also assigned to focus on outreach to 2 remote villages, a few hours away from the university hospital.  These villages had not yet been reached by medical teams from the first earthquake.  The team assisted with medical checkups and, with the support of Kathmandu University School of Engineering, the construction of emergency shelters and a temporary school.

After the emergency response phase concluded, Global Links turned to working with the Pittsburgh Nepali diaspora.  To launch this collaboration, Global Links hosted a Lunch+Learn presentation in July during in which Dr. Evan Miller, a recipient of Global Links supplies, and Bibhuti Aryal from the Rukmini Foundation spoke about their work in Nepal since the earthquake.  

Dr. Miller gave a very moving presentation about his experiences on the ground in Nepal and his work with various medical clinics in the area to assist patients. In regards to the medical supplies Global Links provided, he shared that it was “fantastic the things [Global Links] had.”  Many of those supplies, like skin staple removers, are not available in Nepal.  He shared a poignant story about a young Nepali man that he encountered. This individual had had a wound closed by a visiting medical team with skin staples.  However, skin staples are not commonly used in rural Nepal, meaning the community health workers were unfamiliar with how they should be removed. Not only was Evan able to remove the staples with supplies provided by Global Links, he was also able to teach the community health worker how to use the instruments before leaving the items with him. Evan was able to prevent complications for the young man and empower a health worker with a small “surplus” instrument.

Bibhuti shared with us the work that his organization, the Rukmini Foundation, has done in Nepal in the months following the earthquake.  The Rukmini Foundation works in Nepal to eliminate the barriers to education that girls face.  While their mission is not specifically medical related, they shared with us the work they have been able to accomplish by building temporary schools in the villages where they work and to ensure the safety of their students after the earthquakes.  

Your support has been invaluable in allowing Global Links to assist individuals and organizations responding to the desperate needs in Nepal after two massive earthquakes and dozens of aftershocks rocked the area earlier this year.  While we cannot begin to express how thankful we are for your help, Dr. Emily said it best, “Needless to say, the support from colleagues, friends, family, strangers and every gracious individual involved meant so much.  All of whom had a part in this from home helped us as integrally as we did on the ground in Nepal.”